Split pea and ham soup is in regular rotation at our homestead during the colder months. My husband will regularly ask for it. I usually have ham bones in the freezer, saved from the holidays, or bits of ham I need to use up. This soup is filling, delicious even when it sits in the … Continue reading How to Make Split Pea & Ham Soup
Need a quick dinner, and you have a bag or two of ravioli in the freezer? Make a casserole! Just cook the ravioli according to the directions, and drain well. Pour into a large cast iron skillet ot casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with as much or as little pasta sauce … Continue reading Making a Quick Ravioli Casserole
I have never made orange marmalade - cherry, elderberry and strawberry jam, sure. Crab apple jelly since I was young and we had an old fashioned crab apple tree in the front year. But never a marmalade. I am encouraged to try this because I watched an Ina Garten episode on Food Channel recently where … Continue reading Trying my Hand at Orange Marmalade
I saw a flash of orange, and something orange on the clothesline - a Baltimore Oriole! Most of my spring birds have arrived - the Red breasted grosbeaks, Carolina Wren and Catbirds are all settling in. Hummingbirds flit around. I put out orange halves and have tried an oriole feeder, but the orioles never seem … Continue reading Attracting, and Keeping Orioles in Your Yard
Summer brings lots of salads - more potato salad, macaroni salad, waldorf salad, and the like. They all have mayonnaise in common, and I have adapted a recipe from The Joy of Cooking that (so far) works every time, to make food processor mayonnaise. Commonly called Blender Mayonnaise, I find it much easier and fool-proof … Continue reading How to Make Homemade Mayonnaise & Potato Salad
Along with the Incredibly Quick Chicken a few night ago, I also cooked up some crunchy -soft potatoes in another cast iron pan at the same time. My cast iron pans live on top of the stove, and they are what I use most often. For these potatoes, as well as the chicken, cast iron … Continue reading Crunchy Rosemary Potatoes in Cast Iron
I needed a really quick dinner, and in the fridge I had some boneless chicken thighs and breast meat, thawed and ready to go. So I grabbed my house seasoned salt mix and a bit of flour, dredged the chicken, and dropped into my cast iron pan. A mix of olive oil and butter (and … Continue reading Incredibly Quick Chicken Dinner
Recently my two old male Ragdoll cats are showing their age. They are brothers, about 15 years old now, the two kittens I kept from my last litter years ago. Call them seniors, geriatrics, or just old, but as elderly cats they have special needs now. What changes as a cat ages, and what are those … Continue reading What to do When You Have an Elderly Cat
It's April - and we are still getting snow. More is even predicted for this coming week. However, many of my flowers are coming up, the wild Goldfinches are getting yellow, maple syrup season arrived, and my mind is nudging me to neaten up and spring clean. I am not a super neat house cleaner. … Continue reading Almost Spring…And Time for Spring Cleaning
I can't say we ate any crab cakes on the farm. Back then, grocery stores were a bit limited in the seafood department and even frozen seafood was pretty much limited to fish sticks (we did eat those). I don't remember ever having crab cakes or clam strips and certainly never lobster. Deep fried clam … Continue reading How to make Crab Cakes